Coast games on hold for upgrade

THE reconstruction of the ground earmarked for football on the
Gold Coast means that no AFL games will be played at Carrara next
year, depriving three Victorian clubs of a guaranteed $400,000.

The AFL has confirmed that, due to the massive upgrade of Gold
Coast Stadium, where Carlton, St Kilda and Richmond have had home
games scheduled this year, there will be no games played at the
ground that will become a state-of-the-art stadium by the time the
17th club enters the competition in 2011.

The AFL's general manager of commercial operations, Gillon
McLachlan, said because of the upgrade the league would instead
rely on events that focused on the incoming Gold Coast team to
maintain a presence.

He said it had yet to be determined where those three games
would be played, with the AFL yet to resolve the future of games in
Canberra and the Northern Territory, which have hosted premiership
matches in recent years.

The loss of the Gold Coast games 12 months before the 17th club
joins the competition means the three Melbourne-based clubs will
"lose" the opportunity to make $400,000 from a game against a
low-drawing opponent  a setback in the difficult financial
climate.

But McLachlan said the clubs did not factor the certainty of a
game into their calculations.

"There's always a challenge. It was an opportunity there this
year. I don't think any of them have built it into their (budgets)
long term," he said. "Carlton got a bit of flak for selling the
game, but in the end, $400,000 is $400,000."

On what it would do to maintain a presence on the Gold Coast,
McLachlan said: "There will be other calendar events on the Gold
Coast, focusing on the Gold Coast footy club team," he said.

"The focus will be on the development of the Gold Coast
Football Club. It will be a calendar event to build the team, the
list, the club, the brand etc."

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